Monday, February 13, 2017

An extraordinary war of 140 characters has erupted on Twitter between between former Seven West Media employee Amber Harrison and Seven West board member Jeff Kennett.

An fiesty Twitter exchange between Ms Harrison and the former Victorian premier escalated late Monday after Seven West won an interim court injunction preventing Ms Harrison from using social media to publish confidential documents.

"You have bombarded me .. with threats if I tell my story. The only thing I have taken back here is my voice. And I intend to keep using it," Ms Harrison told Mr Kennett in a tweet.

"What you do not like is being called out for being hypocrites."

Mr Kennett hit back saying "what we do not like is you releasing commercial documents that have nothing to do with you claim and is not your property."

"We have respected the confidentiality (that) SWM and Ms Harrison signed up to twice. Time to correct the record."

Ms Harrison, former executive assistant and lover to Seven West chief executive Tim Worner, has been using Twitter to leak documents in recent days to counter legal action by Seven West lawyers.

The 39 year old has been threatening to expose what she calls the "truth" about internal matters at Seven West despite Tim Worner being cleared by an internal inquiry of wrongdoing including claims of drug use and credit card fraud.

Seven West obtained an injunction from the Supreme Court of NSW to prevent Ms Harrison from releasing documents or property of the company."It has became clear late last week that Ms Harrison is now releasing or divulging commercial in confidence emails and other documents that she has no right to hold," Seven West Media said in a statement.Amber Harrison has accused Seven West of an orchestrated campaign to spin the scandal of her affair with Mr Worner which was known to the Seven West board three years ago."Jeff, your team leaked the tale they needed to protect your CEO in March 2015 - and then blamed me for it."With the injunction hearing scheduled for tomorrow, Mr Kennett's public comments on Twitter are seen as unusual given the high stakes nature of the case and the reputational damage already done to Seven West.Mr Kennett, who is also chairman of the mental health initiative Beyond Blue, has become Seven West's unofficial spokesman on the case when looks certain to descend into an murky, expensive and highly personal legal battle.

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About Peter Ryan

Peter Ryan is one of the ABC's most experienced journalists. With more than 30 years in the game, he contributes to a range of ABC News programs including the flagship radio current affairs programs AM and The World Today in addition to ABC News 24 and ABC News Online. As a former ABC Business editor he established Lateline Business (now The Business) and Business Today in 2006 and oversaw the ABC’s business and economics coverage across all platforms. After working in the corporate sector, Peter rejoined the ABC in 2003 as Executive Producer of ABC Television’s Business Breakfast program. Peter's previous journalism career includes three years as the ABC's Head of TV News and Current Affairs in Melbourne; almost five years as Bureau Chief and television correspondent at the ABC's Washington Bureau; a year as a producer at the BBC in London and a range of ABC reporting and producing roles in Melbourne, Sydney, Darwin and the South Pacific. Peter began his journalism career in newspapers at Sydney's Daily Mirror in 1980 and he worked in Sydney commercial radio before joining the ABC in 1984.